The Sacred (2009) User Reviews

Predictable

[akaichou-crimsonbutterfl · 4/10 · 21 March 2011]

I love to watch horror and watch a good plenty of them for work. Trust me when I say that Sacred is at best good for only 1 time viewing.

This movie is very standard. Mysterious place, nosy American youths decide to investigate. They stick their noses where they don't belong, disregard warnings, and have to pay for it. Does that sound familiar? It's almost like 'The Ruins' (2008), but I believe the latter does a better job at building tension as well as laying out the plot.

The characters are not very likable, neither do they look convincing to me as students. We don't know very much about their background, and they appear to be typical youths with a severe lack of situational awareness, and an impairment in natural acting. Since I wasn't able to stop thinking that these people are actors, immersion into the movie was also not possible as well.

I won't say much about this film since I don't care for it much, but if this is up your tree, go ahead.

IS YOUR HEART PURE?

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 20 June 2019]

The film opens in 1709 as a group of Native Americans use a sacred/haunted river island as judgement. We see the victims of the murderer perform their judgement. We switch to the future as 5 students want to investigate the area. They obtain a reluctant guide who won't go near the place, but puts them in the right direction. There was once a family that lived there, who were all killed.

After being warned to leave before sundown, hearing voices,and needing medical attention the students opt to stay the night. Oh yea, it also seems this tribe had its own written language similar to other local tribes. Something else my history book missed.

You know what is going to happen. Students will be judged and haunted by their past sins.

I liked the concept of the film, however the characters were a bit dry. They didn't grab me. They needed stronger characters with better dialogue and sins.

Parental Guide: F-bomb. Brief sex scene. No nudity.

The movie was just too predictable and generic...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 23 October 2020]

I had never heard about this 2009 horror movie titled "The Sacred" prior to now in 2020 when I had the chance to sit down and watch it. And it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I found the time to sit down to watch it.

However, "The Sacred", from writers Sharon Reed and Jose Zambrano Cassella just wasn't an outstanding movie. Sure, it was watchable, no doubt about it. But this movie was by no means an impressive foray into the horror genre, nor was it a particularly memorable movie. The whole movie just reeked of being too generic and predictable.

But hey, at least it was not amongst the worst of horror movies around, and that counts for something at least.

Now, the storyline in "The Sacred" was pretty straight forward and very easy to follow. But the storyline and plot were being held back and weighed down by its over-predictability. The writers just offered no surprises to the viewers as the movie trotted on.

The acting in the movie was adequate, but the actors and actresses were struggling with a limited script in terms of dialogue, events and having characters with as much appeal as wet cardboard.

I suppose "The Sacred" has some worth if you are a newcomer to the horror genre. But for a seasoned horror veteran as myself then this was a mere stroll in the park.

Not an overly enjoyable movie, nor is it a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time around, much less being a movie that I would willingly recommend that you spend your time, money and effort on.

My rating of "The Sacred" lands on a three out of ten stars.

"B" movie at it's worst, sacred ground, cheesy effects, wooden acting....

[My_Opinion-245-920801 · 2/10 · 18 January 2012]

The Scared was a "B" movie in the horror genera. The effects were not up to par. The special effects and make up was noticeably lacking any type of realism. The scenes were light is supposed to be shimmering off of the tress in the jungle was laughable and not scary in any way. The acting was in line with what you might expect, with a movie that had almost no budget. Sadly, it looked as though it was filmed by some new college graduates fresh out of film school. There really are not a lot of positives to pull out of this debacle from director Jose Zambrano Cassella. The acting was wooden; there was no workable or even remotely believable plot. The positive side of this motion picture is that it finally ended.

We Go Back

[slapdog3 · 5/10 · 19 February 2022]

Sometimes We Have To Go Back In Time And Look at Horror Movies Back In The 2000's To Remind Us Of What We Had Back Then Compared To What We Have Today In The Horror Genre, This Movie Is a 5 Or 6 To Me Compared To The Mess That Is In Theaters And On Streaming Services These Days And They Call Horror But I Call CRAP!

Fun movie with very well done effects and cinematography

[Phil-1212 · 7/10 · 20 November 2010]

If you like horror films then you'll like this one. I've seen a hundred movies that take students into the woods and start hacking them to bits before long but this movie had a nice twist to the usual elements. I saw this at a horror film festival and it, deservedly, won a bunch of the awards. Despite his short appearance on screen, John Kyle does a great job and won the award for best supporting actor. Well deserved! The rest of the cast is natural in their roles, including Justin Wall (who is now on the Glades!), and Jessica Blackmore, who is great. The character attrition isn't just due to mindless violence but bad things happen to bad people and the deaths come for a reason. I don't know what the budget was but the filming shows it's not another cheap splatter fest. Worth the few bucks to rent it and the time to watch it.

Indie Horror Movie Looks Like Any Hollywood Picture

[skoshifilms · 8/10 · 26 March 2011]

I saw this movie in the theater in downtown Orlando when it played for the cast & crew (I'm a friend of one of the crew). I tell you, it looks great on the big screen. Screw the naysayers from Singapore (did you even see it since it hasn't been released yet?). This is a low budget indie horror. Of course you aren't going to have a name actor or a budget of 3 million dollars.

I wasn't expecting much for such a low budget, but I was really impressed. This movie played like a Hollywood movie on the big screen.

The movie follows the journey of 5 college students as they trek through the Florida swamps to do a school project on an Indian tribe. They travel down a beautiful river to their destination, a camp.

When one of them removes an Indian artifact from its resting place, all hell breaks loose. The 5 friends all become hunted, by their own past.

I think the cinematography is beautiful and it looks like any Hollywood picture. The acting is good too. The actors are believable and they look good, what more can you ask from an indie horror movie?

The Sacred

[johannemaurasse · 17 August 2011]

"Vision is the art of seeing things invisible." ~Jonathan Swift

Any project involving Director and Cinematographer Jose Zambrano Cassella is a great display of his artistic vision and a work of pure quality. The fruitful collaboration between Cassella and Sharon Reed, along with a brilliant cast supporting the story brings The Sacred a well deserved place on the Indie scene.

The ever popular horror genre welcomes this finely orchestrated movie, done by a local Florida crew, clearly proving that a high quality product CAN be executed on a small budget. Worth mentioning, the behind-the-scenes; a treat to watch.

Support Indie Film Making by renting this must see!

Decent film. Good effects and twists. Acting is sub-par. Decent production.

[Bababooe · 6/10 · 26 February 2018]

The beginning was the best part. Somewhere in 1709, probably in North America, there was a ritual killing by way of tying someone up, and letting the zombies kill him. The zombies here were very cool and scary. Real twisted.

Then the present day and our team of young people are introduced. What we have here is a some full on garbage dialogue to get to know the victims of this film. You have to get to know them so when they get offed you feel a little bad. Anyway, the dialogue is pretty bad. And the acting is just plain boring. So, I guess the directing of the actors was pretty bad too. So we get through the boring stuff. And finally the horror comes back. And it's good. Good kills, not as twisted as the beginning but good. The ending was not good. They should have ended it with the guy pulling the last girl out of the water and taking her back to the zombies. Not to do a cop out dream sequence.

Rating is a B-, or 6 stars. Mostly for the beginning

Great horror flick with a story...watch out Hollywood

[trueflyingarrow · 9/10 · 16 August 2011]

I was so amazed to find out that this movie is an independent production shot in Florida by Florida filmmakers! It shows like something we expect out of L.A. The Sacred proves that with awesome talent and a vision behind a film, even a low budget cannot keep a good movie from being made. The first thing one will notice is that the cinematography is superb. The lighting choices and perspectives of the shots play perfectly with the script to tell the story. Secondly, the acting was spot-on. The characters were believable and not overacted as in other horror films. So many times, especially on low budget horror films, it is just one scare tactic after another and story/relationships, etc... take a back seat. It was refreshing to see that story drove the movie. As an audience member, I was drawn into the river trip and curious from the first frame. That is more than I can say about most movies showing up in theaters lately-especially from the ones considered low-budget. Many kudos to this Indie crew for a very watchable movie that could very well become a cult classic.